Was crawl space water damage a red flag on your home
inspection report? Water can pose numerous long term challenges to your home.

How does crawl space water damage occur?

Crawl space water damage

Crawl spaces and basements are out of sight, but they contain some of the most important components of your home. Not only are water heaters and electrical systems usually run through crawlspaces, but structural components like floor joists and foundation tie-ins are accessible. Modern homes usually have a bottom to top air flow, venting any vapor or mold spores throughout your house.

Dry rot

Dry rot is a fungus that grows in exposed wood with high moisture content. Leaks, flooding, and ground water intuitions can all create the ideal environment for dry rot to grow. If these conditions are left unchecked for months or years, wood rot can degrade the cellular matrix of wood and deteriorate the structural value of beams, joists, sub flooring, and other critical components.

At SFW Construction LLC, we’re dry rot experts. We can evaluate what components of your home need to be replaced or patched while addressing underlying leak or flooding issues.

Mold and Pests

Fungi is not the only organism that thrives in wet environments. Mold and other pests can also take over long forgotten crawlspaces and unfinished basements. Once mold takes hold, air circulated through your crawlspace can spread mold spores into your house. Strong, musty odors coming from your crawl space van also be a sign of raccoon, rat, or other insect infestations.

After removing standing water and solving any lingering water intrusion issues, crawlspace encapsulation can be a good solution to pest infestations. Keeping the floor of your crawlspace covered with poly sheeting can make the area much less livable!

Water Vapor

Standing water, leaks, and high moisture content can lead to water vapor circulating throughout the rest of your house. Vapor circulation is associated with warped flooring, dry wall mold, and fungal growth throughout the rest of your house.

Installing a vapor barrier into your crawlspace can help you to control water vapor in your house.

SFW Construction LLC is a full service general contractor and crawl space water damage specialist. Give us a call if your suspect your crawl space of hosting dry rot, mold or pests!

Why Repair Crawl Space Damage?

Water damage, both long dried up and new, can cause significant damage to the structural components and interior of your home. For this reason, home inspectors usually request dry rot, standing water, and pest issues before moving forward with real estate transactions.

Below are some of the most common water damage problems that we see in crawl space repairs. Give us a call or shoot us an email if you have any questions!